Hi, guys. It is: not Saturday. It is also not several weeks ago, which is when I was supposed to be writing some stuff.

But whatever, here’s my blog post, it is about food, check me out.

(I have been moving, and working, and busy all the time. Also I have no internets, except borrowed work USB 3G adaptor internets, which is not so fast as one would hope for, for internets usage in the modern age)

Today I am cooking two things, and neither of them are being cooked on my bbq.

“What!?” some of you might say, making good use of the interrobang, “not on the BBQ?! Madness!”. I mean, actually probably only Heather would say this, because she is probably the only one who is aware that, since Rudd Money Day I have had a BBQ and I have cooked something on it every day since. I mean, this is only like three days at this point but three days BBQ in a row is still pretty epic.

But today it is raining, and I cannot be bothered going outside in the rain to cook things, when I can just cook them inside.
Also they’re both a bit easier to do inside for various reasons.

Here is thing one:

Speck and Potatoes in Peach Sauce

Basically, you get some speck, from your butcher/smokehouse/franklins. You also get some small potatoes. You get a cast iron cooking vessel with a lid, or any other cooking vessel with a lid you have that will go in an oven. You put some brandymel, if you have it, and some peach juice, in the vessel, along with the speck and the potatoes. You jam a fork in the potatoes a couple times so there’s holes for the delicious peach juice to go into. Then you put it in the oven at about 140 degrees or so.

Later, you take it out, and turn over the potatoes and the speck. Because the peach juice and honeybooze sauce will not have evaporated enough with the lid on, take the lid off and leave it off. Turn the oven up a bit to help evaporate.

Even more later, take the potatoes out and put them on a plate or something. Smash them up a bit, but not too much, just kind of rough them up. Make sure they know that you were there, you know, and that if they try that shit again, they’ll have to deal with you. Punch them in the snout to establish superiority.

Once you’ve got a beaten up but still recognisable potato, put some butter and white pepper on the top of it, and put it back in the cooking vessel. Do this until you have no potatos which are not in your cooking vessel.

Later, the juice+honeybooze should have reduced to a thickish sauceish thing. This will also have delicious flavours of delicious speck in it. Relish it, people. The potatoes will be moist and tender, but where you beat them up and covered them with butter and pepper, they will be crispycrunchy and delicious.

As I write this I am somewhere between beating the potatoes up and the sauce being reduced enough to count as a sauce. But I know it will be delicious because the sauce already tastes delicious, the potatoes cannot fail to be delicious, and speck is basically GIANT SIZED BACON, so how is there a problem there?

I might provide photos later, but probably I won’t, because a) I haven’t taken any, b) it’s not going to look that pretty.
But it will be delicious, that is for damn sure.

The other thing I am cooking is:

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Getcherself a crock pot. If you do not have a crock pot, do not make this recipie. Unless you have a BBQ you can get to sit at really quite low temperatures reliably for hours and hours and hours on end.
if (crockpot){
Get a big chunk of pork, for roasting. I got a way-too-large bit of pork leg, with the bone in it still, because that was all I could get from my shops at the time. Then I cut it in half and froze the bone half, and used the non-bone half.
Get some spices and stuff if you’re into that, and some nice sea-salt. Rub the spices and sea-salt into the pork roast, giving it as even and complete a coverage as you can. This doesn’t really matter but it makes you look like a pro. …Fessional. Chef Guy.
Put the big chunk of meat in the crock pot, then cover it with BBQ sauce. I would personally recommend to anyone that, instead of plain old BBQ sauce, you use this stunning example of condiment engineering, as, really, it’s the best thing ever.
Also put in some water, and other stuff if you think it will help the FLAVOUR FORCE or whatever flavour-rating system you use. In my crock pot was: a bunch of the worcestershire steak sauce, some celtic sea salt (fancy!), some woolworths all-purpose seasoning (surprisingly efficacious!), and some white pepper. I think that is probably all.

Then turn the crock pot on to low and leave it alone for ten hours.

Ten hours, at least!

Actually you could probably succeed ok after 5 or 6, but making this overnight seems easier.

This is the stage I am up to now. Tomorrow, in the morning, I will, using my hands and a fork, rip the pork to shreds. Then I will put the porkshreds back in the crockpot with the bbq sauce/water/etc juice, and smoosh it around a bit. Then I will take some of that and put it in a frypan, fry it up, then put it on a breadroll with some smoked cheddar cheese, and eat the goddamn hell out of it.
Then I will put the rest in the fridge, and go to work.
It’ll be great.
}

Hopefully, by next week, I will have proper internets, and less crazy stuff going on, so I should be ready to get back into DISCIPLINE again.

I know I was meant to do a post on travel, but I will save that for later. Today, I want to talk about how people on the internet use images to express themselves in new and unique ways.

Throughout human history, auditory literacy has been widespread. Not being able to read or write was common, and the written word was usually reserved for the upper echelons of society. In the latter half of the twentieth century, people’s visual literacy was increasing quite dramatically – movies, advertising and television were opting for a highly visual, rather than dense text- or auditory-based method of communication.

The internet, however, is primarily text-based. Still, people manage to use the images of the real world to express themselves online, making use of the higly visually literate audience. A picture of a face or an animal can convey an emotion far more convincingly than any emoticon, and can even help drive a point home.

I’ve delved into my stock of pictures, and I thought I’d share them with you!

First stop, pointing out failure.

The best way to win an argument:

…and its variants:

…or winning through absurdity:

…to expressing surprise:

…and using TV clips to drive your point home:

…calling out trolls:

…or congratulating them:

…a desire for more:

…or less:

…laughing at others:

…getting angry:

…or laughing at another’s stupidity:

…celebrating good content:

…feeling overwhelmed with awesome:

…to making fun of another’s posting style:

…using a mix of themes to emphasise the intended expression:

…celebrating:

…and calling others out on their newbie cryfaces:

…more animal/emoticon confluence:

…and a congratulatory applause from the internet’s favourite anarchist:

I can’t help it – I adore the use of .gif and .jpeg to enhance and enrich my online experience, both in my own expression and the creation of a culture.

I got a lot of travel done when I was growing up. Every 3 years my dad would whisk us off to wherever he was spending his 7 month Sabbatical/Study Leave. In this time he would usually take us to live in parts of the UK or North America with good University Libraries and Theological Colleges so that he could work on his books while escaping his normal teaching/marking/preaching duties. I was also lucky enough to visit loads of places in Europe and Asia on the way to and from the UK/US. I’ve lived in Cambridge, Sheffield (UK) and Vancouver(Canada) and visited Beijing, Bangkok, Rome, Brussels, Munich/Bavaria (castle!), London, Hawaii, Belfast, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Innsbruck … I think that’s all of them… Another post from me will be about the best travel/holiday experiences I’ve had and why. Cos there’s a bunch to say about that!

So, to a large extent I’ve been spared the travel bug that seems to have hit the majority of my fellow twenty-somethings throughout their uni years. I love seeing the world, but I was OK to wait for a few years while I studied before going for it again. I can understand the urgency for everyone else, but I think it’s been a good thing that I’ve not been absolutely dying to travel over the past six years, because I’ve had absolutely no opportunity to!

As for the future, travel is finally starting to look like a real possibility.

Melbourne has been calling me for as long as I can remember. That was really stirred up by Heather’s post about all the good food, shops and cultural attractions they’ve got down there! Being a native to Newtown, and now having lived in Surry Hills for so long, I’m so in love with cafe culture, restaurants, bars, beaches, museums, art galleries, concerts, plays, bakeries, markets, and clothes/shoe shops. I’m such a city girl! And I hear Melbourne is the best city in Australia for all those kinds of things. So, Andrew and I are planning a Melbourne Honeymoon!

Andrew and I have also had serious discussions about moving to England for part of Andrew’s PhD/ Post Doc study. He and I would really love to live there for a while. It’d be really good for his career as an Academic, and it’s easy for Aussie Physios to get work over there. I love the idea of really shaking things up and exploring a new city/country together. Staying anywhere for too long freaks me out a little, and we’ve been here for 5 years! Also, I see the next couple of years as a time for us to be young adults, with spending money, and without kids. I want to live it up a little!

We’d also really love to visit Japan, and have talked to Ingrid and Alan about maybe going there with them or visiting them there someday. I find Japan’s culture fascinating. In a way that makes me want to check it out but never, EVER live there. It has some really disturbing stuff (work/gender roles), some intricate customs (sake pouring, tea ceremonies, art, food prep), and some awesomely entertaining youth culture things (I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about here lol). I think it would be such an eye-opener, and incredible fun.

I, myself, am very interested in visiting some areas around Launceston, Tasmania because my Aboriginal Ancestor came from there. His family line is very well documented, his daughter having married into a very wealthy and influential white family whose home is now a museum. I plan to talk more about this in a futurpost after I have read more about the history and/or visited the place.

At some point in the future, I plan to go to a Third World country to work as a volunteer Physio. Apparently the volunteer agencies ARE looking Physios to send over along with the nurses and doctors. I suppose, the main reason I wanted to be a Physio was to help people who really need help. That’s why I want to work in a hospital, not a private practice. That’s why I like Intensive Care and Stroke Rehab more than working with knees and shoulders. This would be a really good way to do that. I think I would appreciate the perspective I would gain from it, and knowing that what I’m doing day to day is worth it. I would also really love to explore whichever place I’m sent to, and find out more about it’s culture and history.